


There Is Still Time

by StarfleetBrat



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 05:36:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18804787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarfleetBrat/pseuds/StarfleetBrat
Summary: This story takes place in 2257 during the events depicted in the Star Trek Discovery season two finale "Such Sweet Sorrow - Part 2"Admiral Katrina Cornwell is standing right in front of the torpedo stuck in the Enterprise hull and I take it from there because, let's face it, killing her off was the stupidest thing TPTB could do.





	There Is Still Time

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> CBS owns all Star Trek/Star Trek Voyager/Star Trek Discovery characters.

The white, blinding light surrounded her exactly as she expected: it was followed by the sudden appearance of space debris, bulkheads and torpedo fragments suspended in space as if hung by invisible nails. She was in awe with the perfect silence around her.

Her scientific mind immediately found a perfectly-rational explanation for the absence of sounds: the torpedo had detonated and had taken a large chunk of the Enterprise saucer section with it. She was staring into the vacuum of space, invisible to any humanoid eye. For a moment, she had thought that Chris Pike had seen through her bluff: no matter how powerful she was and although she had a pretty good idea of what the time crystal had shown to Pike, she knew he was not an average human: he was extremely intelligent, considerate and attentive - qualities that her kind truly appreciated.  _Qualities that most of my kind truly appreciates_  - she corrected herself.

She would never consider herself anything but human: this was the experience she had enjoyed most - regardless of her true nature. Although the news of Admiral Cornwell’s death had been transmitted to the USS Discovery, she was almost tempted to shout “ _Hey, I’m here and I’m alive!_ ”.

It took all her self-control and years of training and discipline to avoid doing just that: she knew she would get back to the USS Discovery and to Starfleet in due time; however, both had to wait for the time being. No matter what Gabrielle Burnham had tried to do, time was still out of joint: she was wondering whether Michael Burnham was indeed born to set it right, when a familiar figure appeared out of nowhere next to her.

She saw him clapping his hands although no sound was carried through space. _How silly of him_  - she thought dismissively. She had little patience for such obnoxious, pompous individual who happened to belong to her very same race. Unfortunately.

“Katrina!” he shouted enthusiastically.

“Goodbye” was her prompt reply.

“Katrina” he started with what he hoped was a heartfelt tone of voice “ _I_ was so worried about you. What if you had really died in that torpedo explosion?”

“All right, let me spell it out loud for you: F-U-C-K -- O-F-F” she replied without missing a beat.

“Katrina” he began once again and she couldn’t help but notice that his tone of voice and body language were barely concealing his uneasiness “ _y_ ou of all people should know that messing up with time is never a good idea …”

“Which is why I've enjoyed being human since this body birth in order to avoid attracting attention - something you are totally incapable of doing” she interrupted him.

“Katrina” he continued, ignoring her latest statement “ _I_ admire your tenacity and resolution, however, once human beings are dead, they remain, well, ... dead _._ ”

“Never heard of M.I.A. have you?” she retorted “it wouldn’t be the first time a Starfleet officer goes missing-in-action and it certainly won’t be the last" she paused for effect "as you very well know.”

He seemed to be totally unconcerned: “I’m not sure what you’re talking about; nevertheless, you will have a hard time explaining how you survived a torpedo detonation which tore apart half of that tin can those Starfleet people call ‘Enterprise’ and…”

“Cut the crap, Q” she interrupted him sharply “and mind your own century”.

“Oh, we are at this stage now, aren’t we?” Q’s voice had turned into a piercing falsetto “how about I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”

“Fine. Let me just go to the 24th century and ensure that a certain Madame Captain of yours never survives the Badlands …” She was about to snap her fingers when Q abruptly raised both his arms in a surrender gesture.

“Ok Katrina, you win.” he replied, once again with that unctuous tone of voice of his - although combined with a hint of anxiety this time “However, you need to understand that a whole galaxy of Borg drones would be an extremely tedious predicament - not to mention embarrassing. Kathryn Janeway needs to be in the right place at the right time in order to defeat that monotonous bunch of robots …”

“ Ooooh, we are at this stage now, aren’t we? _”_ Katrina interrupted him fiercely “All of a sudden the principle of causality needs to be added to the equation. How thoughtful of you. Now go back to play in your favourite century and leave me alone so that I can focus on some serious matters currently affecting the multiverse, AND” - she added with a murderous look on her face - "don't even try your usual ' _Katrina to the rescue_ ' line because it has never worked before and it will most certainly not work now."

“There is no time” he quipped.

“Wrong. There is time but it is out of joint” she added gravely.

“And you are the cursed spite?” he asked jokingly.

“ _I_ am not entirely sure” she replied solemnly “which is why I need to study this century and a few others more carefully”.

Her latest sentence took Q by surprise: he was so used to tease her that all he ever expected from her was a sassy retort; he had not expected a formal statement about the mess they were in. He had somehow let his guard down and didn’t see it coming: Katrina quickly snapped her fingers and Q disappeared right in front her. She smiled to herself: Q would not torment her for a while - no matter how short or long that while would be.

She kept looking at the vastness of space around her. She noticed the repair robots deployed on the Enterprise hull and now proceeding in her direction.

 _Sooner or later -_  she thought with a hint of sadness -  _somebody is going to ask the obvious i.e. why those bots were not used to disarm that torpedo; a repair robot would have done my job more efficiently and possibly without blowing up a third of the Enterprise saucer section; and I truly hope Chris will never wonder about that blast door closing so slowly - too slowly ..._

Nevertheless, she told herself with a strange sense of relief, she now had all the time she needed.


End file.
